Data on 104 patients with pneumonia treated at Moscow multidisciplinary hospitals for suspected respiratory tuberculosis (RT) show that general practitioners have lost tuberculosis-diagnosing skills and phthisiological alertness. This is suggested by frequent failures to collect medical historical data, neglect of risk factors for RT, poor orientation in the differential diagnosis of pneumonia and tuberculosis, violation of diagnostic standards of pulmonary tuberculosis, specifically a paucity of sputum microscopic studies and lateral lung X-ray studies. Upgrading the recognition quality of tuberculosis makes it necessary to observe the propedeutic rules for examining and studying a patient, to reveal important anamnestic and clinical data, and to follow instructions. At the same time, there is no need for new equipment and technologies, but it is critically important to increase the level of tuberculosis knowledge in physicians of all specialties and to create motivation for qualitative diagnostic work.